Paper Vs. Tablet: Literature's Greatest Threat
June 10th, 2040: Excerpt from: "Paper vs. Tablet: Literature's Greatest Threat" By: Ashley Rose Head Chronicler at the University of Historical Publications, Vancouver, British Columbia, and Chair of the Society for the Preservation of Books. It took mankind thousands of years to invent the written word, and convert from an oral tradition to a written one. It took computers forty years to render the written and printed word obsolete. It's a touchy subject among literary circles. Most librarians, archivists and chroniclers of human history will tell you, with adamant ferocity and fire in their eyes, they far prefer the tactile feeling of an actual book in their hands. An old musty tome, fragile and worn from age, is far superior to an unfeeling, cold and emotionally hunk of metal and plastic. To suggest otherwise in company of these fine and learned academics would be akin to bringing a lit torch into an archive: it would cause gasps of horror, shock, and cause one to be pelted with many paperback novels until you ceased spreading such an infernal and terrible idea. Yet, it is a hard argument to make. A book, even a paperback, is a lumpy and obnoxious thing. It will fill up your bag and carrying more than two or three means special room must be made to accommodate them. They decay, and must be copied to make sure they do not fade from history. They are delicate, and an accident with some water or a cat misbehaving will spell an end to a particular volume. How can a cumbersome thing ever compare to the sleek information store that is the modern tablet? The first response would be to say history and tradition, followed by quickly hiding under a rock. Burying one's head deep in the sand and refusing to acknowledge the inexorable forward march of history. When the technology was introduced to the general public in the first few years of the 21rst century, a tablet could hold around a hundred books and weighed less than a kilogram. Forty years later, and a tablet can hold the entirety of mankind's written word; complete with graphic interfaces, videos, film, radio and play adaptations of works and audiobook and spoken word versions. How can a simple book compare to that? The written word has had to evolve, yes. Just not into tablets. The predominant way in which books must evolve to stay relevant in this increasingly technological world is by changing their very nature. A book cannot be just a story, or an info dump. It must become a work of art. This was something monks of the medieval era recognized. Their entire lives were dedicated to copying and reprinting the same pages of text, in the highest possible quality. There was no printing press, no machine to do their work for them. If they did not copy out those pages of sacred text, then no one would get a chance to read it. It is no real surprise they began to illustrate and illuminate these books. Each transcriber was also an artist and added personal touches to each document they put their hands on. A finger pointing to a specific passage. Comments on an error, or massive scrollwork on letters for important passages. Those books, those ancient texts, are true works of fantastic art. This is what books need to once again become to continue their existence in our world. They must learn to coexist with the technology that threatens them. There must be a reason for the average person to want to choose a book over a tablet, and that means moving beyond traditional paper and bindings. What can a book do that a tablet cannot? Interactivity. The physical act of turning a page may not seem like much, but compared to just swiping your finger on a screen, or using eye motion sensors, it demands the reader participate in the action of reading the book. Artwork that pops off a media page? Interactive social commentary built into the book itself? The technology of creating books has not changed and that is why they are falling behind. We must go back to those medieval authors and find ways to turn our traditional books into something akin to an illuminated text. Create an experience out of reading. Something a little more than just turning a page.